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What Is Water
Worth?
A Reading A–Z Level Z Leveled Book
Word Count: 1,530
LEVELED BOOK • Z
What Is
Water Worth?
T• W
Written by John Perritano
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•Z
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Competing Water Uses
8%
22%
8%
10%
KEY
11%
Domestic
30%
Industrial
70%
82%
59%
PagePage
3: A family
3: A family
washes
washes
clothes
clothes
in a river
in a river
fed by
fedthe
byIndian
the Indian
Himalayas.
Himalayas.
Page 3: A family washes clothes in a river fed by the Indian Himalayas.
World
Low- and midincome countries
High-income
countries
Agricultural
Source: World Water
Development Report,
UNESCO
Countries need to help find solutions, too.
Workers in Saudi Arabia are converting salt water
to freshwater in a process called desalination. The
process is expensive, though, and many countries
cannot afford to build desalination plants.
The island nation of Singapore is purifying
wastewater that comes from washing dishes,
flushing toilets, and taking baths and showers.
Some other countries do this, too, but Singapore
obtains one-third of its water this way.
Agriculture uses around 70 percent of the
world’s water, but some farmers and ranchers are
finding ways to use less. The water saved could
instead be used by rapidly growing cities.
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Correlation
Correlation
Correlation
LEVEL
LEVEL
ZZ Z
LEVEL
Fountas
Fountas
&
& PinnellU–V
Fountas
& Pinnell
Pinnell
U–VU–V
Reading
Reading
Recovery
Recovery
N/A
Reading
Recovery
N/A N/A
DRA
50
DRADRA
50 50
Solving the planet’s water problem is
complicated. Still, we all need to find ways to
conserve this valuable resource, not just for our
generation, but for the ones yet to come.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
15
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
15
16 16
Is Water
Worth?
WhatWhat
Is Water
Worth?
What Is Water Worth?
Z Leveled
LevelLevel
Z Leveled
Book Book
Level Z Leveled Book
© Learning
© Learning
A–Z A–Z
© Learning A–Z
Written
by John
Perritano
Written
by John
Perritano
Written by John Perritano
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able to be used in a way that does
not completely use up a resource
(p. 10)
sustainable
(adj.)
controlling the portioning of goods
during periods of short supply (p. 12)
rationing (v.)
to cleanse; to remove all dirt and bad
things (p. 9)
purify (v.)
Written by John Perritano
population (n.) all the members of one species in a
particular area (p. 6)
pollution (n.)
the act or result of putting harmful
substances into the air, water, or soil
(p. 6)
freshwater (n.) water that is not salty (p. 6)
fossil fuels (n.) energy sources, such as coal, oil, and
natural gas, that are taken from the
ground (p. 11)
ecosystem (n.) a community of living things
together with their habitat (p. 7)
distributed (v.) spread or scattered over an area (p. 6)
conserve (v.)
to protect a natural place or resource
so it will last longer (p. 14)
climate change the long-term, lasting changes
(n.)
in Earth’s weather patterns (p. 6)
carbon dioxide an invisible gas that is often
(n.)
formed by the burning of fossil
fuels (p. 11)
Glossary
What Is
Water Worth?
A summer rain can mean fun in many places. In others, it can mean survival.
Water, Water Everywhere
Many of us around the world take water for
granted. Why shouldn’t we, when water is all
around? It comes out of our faucets and collects in
puddles on the sidewalk when it rains. Lakes and
rivers brim with water. We buy water in bottles
and slurp it from drinking fountains.
In fact, if we had a glass as big as the United
States and filled it with every drop of water
on the planet, the glass would have to be 145
kilometers (90 mi.) tall to hold it all. With so
much water, you’d think everyone would have
enough to drink. Not so!
4 4
Scientists say climate change is also responsible
for the melting of glaciers high in the Himalayan
Mountains. The glaciers help provide freshwater
for 1.5 billion people living in India, Pakistan, and
six other Asian countries.
In the past, the melting glaciers slowly released
water into the tributaries of the Indus, Ganges,
and Brahmaputra Rivers. Now the rapid melting
of the glaciers is depleting the water supply.
At the same time, the increased glacial melt has
caused severe flooding along each of the three
rivers.
As climate change worsens, less water is
available for producing energy, raising livestock,
and growing crops. Wildlife and natural
ecosystems suffer. Arguments break out between
cities, states, and even countries over who has the
best claim to water.
Tensions over water are growing between
India and at least two of its neighbors, Pakistan
and China. All three are racing to build dams on
headwaters in the Himalayas that feed important
rivers below. Meanwhile, some countries in Africa
argue over who has the best claim on the Nile
River. In the Middle East—one of the driest areas
on Earth—some experts predict that the next war
will be over water.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
13
13
14 14
• Turn off the water when
brushing your teeth.
• Take shorter showers
(or take baths if you like
to linger).
• Turn off the hose when
washing the family car.
• Buy a rain barrel to store
water for plants.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
3
3
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
• Fix leaks and drips.
• Eat less meat (on average,
beef requires 125 times
more water than the same
amount of potatoes).
• When you can, buy used
or recycled stuff instead
of new stuff.
Solving the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Impact of Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Population’s Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Pollution’s Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
A Drop in the Bucket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Water, Water Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Table of Contents
What Can You Do?
Individual efforts to conserve water can
have an impact. States can conserve, too. In 2013,
faced with California’s driest year on record,
the governor called for a 20 percent voluntary
reduction in water usage.
So what can we do?
Solving the Problem
The Impact of Climate Change
Many scientists think climate change is already
affecting people around the world by producing
extreme weather conditions such as storms and
floods. Yet the threat that climate change poses
to the global water supply may be the worst threat
of all. Scientists predict that by 2050, one-fifth
of the world’s population may face severe water
shortages as a result of climate change.
In India, young girls collect water from a hole dug in the ground.
Moreover, water is not equally distributed
around the world. Some countries have more
water than others, but most have enough water
to meet people’s needs. What they don’t always
have is the means to make that water available
to people. Rich, developed countries can tap into
hard-to-reach sources of water much more easily
than poor, less-developed countries, where
people often don’t have enough money to dig
wells or build dams to create reservoirs.
Today, we can only reach and use 1 percent
of Earth’s freshwater. That 1 percent is under
stress owing to three underlying problems:
pollution, increased demand driven by the world’s
ever-increasing population, and climate change.
6 6
Climate change occurs as a result of too much
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere. These gases, produced in
large part by the burning of fossil fuels, trap the
Sun’s heat close to Earth’s surface, much like a
greenhouse. The result is an overall increase in
Earth’s temperature. That warming, in turn, leads
to climate change.
The warmer temperatures disrupt the water
cycle, which is a delicate balance between
evaporation and precipitation. Warmer
temperatures increase the rate of evaporation
of surface water into the atmosphere, affecting
different parts of the world in different ways.
Increased evaporation might dry out some areas
while producing excess precipitation in others.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
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What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
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12 12
More than 30 million people depend on the Colorado
River. It now trickles to an end before it can reach the sea.
5
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
*Groundwater provides 25% to 40% of the world's drinking water.
It provides even more water for growing food. However, groundwater
supplies are shrinking.
A River Runs Dry
Rivers
2%
Fresh
surface
water
Lakes 87%
Surface
water
0.3%
Freshwater
Swamps
11%
Ice caps
and glaciers
68.7%
Groundwater*
30.1%
Freshwater
3%
The drought in the Southwest has been causing
problems in the region since 1999. The water level
of Lake Mead, on the border between Nevada and
Arizona, has dropped 37 meters (120 ft.) in that
time. The lake, which is fed by the Colorado River,
is a source of freshwater for 22 million people. If
rains don’t increase soon, odds are good that desert
residents will have to start rationing water.
Droughts are long periods of abnormally
low precipitation that result in a shortage of
water. Regions at the highest risk of drought
include the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
In the United States, most scientists say that
climate change is responsible for an extreme
drought in the Southwest and California.
Earth’s
water
Oceans
(salt water)
97%
Where’s the Water?
Water is fast becoming more precious than gold
or oil. The planet simply does not have enough
usable water to go around. For one thing, most of
Earth’s water is salt water, which we can’t drink
or use to water our crops. Only about 3 percent
of Earth’s water is fresh, and most of that is locked
away in polar ice caps, glaciers, or underground
layers of rock called aquifers.
A Drop in the Bucket
5
Where the Water Isn’t Safe
India
97
Nigeria
66
China
119
Ethiopia 46
Indonesia 36
Democratic
Republic of the
Congo 36
Bangladesh 28
United Republic
of Tanzania 21
Sudan 18
Kenya 17
Population’s Impact
In 2011, humans hit a milestone. On October 30,
a baby girl was born in the Philippines: the world’s
7 billionth person. By the time she turns 40, experts
say that 9 billion people will be walking the planet,
each looking for food, energy, land, and water.
Growing populations reduce the amount of
water available for each person. Fifty years ago,
the 2.5 billion people on Earth only used a third
of the freshwater that we use today. Many people
thought of water as an unlimited resource. Today,
research shows that more than 1.1 billion people—
1 in every 6 people in the world—don’t have enough
clean water to drink. They live on less than 8 liters
(2 gal.) a day. Experts say that by 2035, 3.6 billion
people will be living in areas where water is scarce.
In Bangladesh, water pollution is caused in
part by poverty and in part by overpopulation. Yet
its population is expected to balloon to 200 million
by 2050—more than 50 million more people than
the country holds now. Wealthy countries are far
less likely to face polluted drinking water because
they often have the means to purify their water
and dispose of human waste properly. However,
population growth in a wealthy country can lead
to water shortages, too. One reason is that people
in wealthy countries consume more water.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
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What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
1940
1960
1980
2000
2020
9
9
4
10
2,000
8
1,500
6
World population (billions)
Water use, billion m3 per year (one cubic meter = 264 gallons)
0
2
Global population
12
2,500
14
3,500
16
World water use
18
20
Around the globe,
millions of people
lack access to safe
drinking water—
783 million in all.
(all numbers in millions)
Other
countries
292
Source: UNICEF/UN 2012 joint report
In Haiti, the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere, seven out of ten people do not have
clean water to drink. Each year, waterborne
illnesses cause more than half the deaths in Haiti.
A massive earthquake in 2010 damaged wells
and water pipes there, making clean water even
scarcer. Many children and adults must walk
miles to find clean water to drink.
Halfway around the world in Bangladesh, city
dwellers use the country’s rivers as open sewers,
dumping chemicals, medical waste, human
waste, and other trash into the water. In the capital
of Dhaka, millions drink putrid water from the
Buriganga. The water is so polluted that all the
fish have died.
Do You Know?
Worldwide, more people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
What Is Water Worth? • Level Z
1920
8 8
10 10
Los Angeles—and many other cities in the
western United States—pull their water from
distant rivers. Pulling water is expensive, and
there is no longer enough river water to go around.
In the United States, a four-person family, on
average, uses 1,514 liters (400 gal.) of water a day,
or roughly 379 liters (100 gal.) per person. This
level of use would be sustainable if only a few
people were using the water. Instead, more and
more people rely on limited water sources. For
example, the Los Angeles region’s population is
expected to reach 41 million by 2020. Yet the area
can only support 1 million people on its own
water. So what does Los Angeles do?
1900
0
500
1000
3,000
4,000
4,500
5,000
7
A girl sick from unclean water gets
help in Haiti.
In other poor areas where freshwater often goes
untreated, disease-carrying organisms grow and
make people sick in other ways. Because people
lack running water, they dump human waste
outside their houses.
That bacteria-laden waste
then flows into rivers
and streams. People use
the water in these toxic
waterways for drinking,
cooking, and bathing.
According to the United
Nations Development
Program, half the world’s
hospital beds contain
patients sick from
waterborne illnesses.
Water pollution is a problem on many
continents. South America’s Amazon rainforest
includes 7 million square kilometers (2.7 million
sq. mi.) and is home to about 10 million people
and more than 30,000 plant species. For decades,
people have been dumping untreated human
waste and toxic chemicals into the Amazon River.
These poisons are slowly destroying the jungle’s
fragile ecosystem.
Pollution’s Impact
Big Population = Big Water Demand